“October starts in July” might not have the same ring to it as “October starts in March,” but nobody will be able to mistake the sense of urgency of this baseball season, for the Cubs or anyone else.
For a group of Cubs players who played under that directive the last two seasons, that much of the historically unusual size and shape of the 2020 season might be vaguely familiar.
Everything else associated with a 60-game season that opens during the traditional trade-deadline week — including a summertime spring training starting July 1 — figures to be a work-in-progress, adjust-on-the-fly operation at best and a two-month, high-risk walk through a COVID-19 minefield at least.